“Any latin dictionary, any old one at least, will tell you that maurus is a ‘moor’, a ‘blackamoor’ or a’tawny moor ‘. And Shakespeare uses the world ‘moor’ as a synonym for ‘negro'(Merchant of Venice, act III, scene V)”…”At that last world bears nowadays a somewhat restricted meaning , it may be better to take the old fashioned « blackamoor »,as the nearest English rendering of maurus signifying thereby any black, or brown skinned man”.read more